Presently known ferrite core heads require precise machining and alignment and an undue number of processing steps during manufacture. Nevertheless, problems arise due to processing variability and off-specification construction that result in nonuniformity during mass production of the heads. These problems lead to losses due to "out-of-spec" heads, and poor signal performance during magnetic head operation.
Furthermore, when manufacturing ferrite heads with extremely small transducing gaps to achieve very narrow data track widths in order to increase track density, various difficulties are encountered with present day head designs and processes. In addition, it is not feasible during production to test magnetic heads made by current techniques for magnetic and other physical properties until the head assembly is completed. Therefore, although a component to be assembled with the head may not have the specified magnetic characteristics, it is not until the completed head assembly is tested that the defect can be detected.